Holiday Projects in the Works

Hello to all! 

Busy time of year you say? I cannot imagine what this time of year is like for all the parents out there. Its busy enough for me with Dave and the pups and a very small immediate family. I don't know how all the working parents of small kids get everything done for the holidays. My hat's off to you! 

I'm taking the week of Christmas and the week of New Year's off and you can bet there will be a lot of paint slinging, ink splattering, paper cutting, cigar box gluing, alcohol ink blowing and tons of fun going on in my studio during this down time. 

Here are some pics of some of the projects I've been working on recently: 

 My friend Jen Cooke mentioned the idea of painting a floor cloth for her. I'd never considered that or even thought about a floor cloth...but I am now! I found an online vendor that sells the floor cloths preshrunk, gesso'd and pre sewn. Now anyone that saw my video of making the pencil cases knows that sewing a floor cloth was completely out of the question. But CanvasWorks FloorCloths saved me! So I'm still hung up on this turquoise/orange palette, I just love the pop you get from these two colors together. Here's what I came up with for my first one, more canvases on order! 

My online order of porcelain ornaments finally arrived. I made a few for some of my girls at work that traveled in for meetings this week. I'll be making more of these for our tree very soon. So much fun to make and I love the vivid colors of the alcohol inks too. Check out my YouTube videos of how I make these. 

I also made another cigar box for my bright-eyed little friend Juliette. She's ADORABLE and I could smooch those dimples right off her cheeks. Her Daddy, who works with me, called last night to tell me he couldn't get the box away from her and she was sleeping with it in her crib. She loves bright colors and animals of all kinds, so here's Juliette's box. 

Enough for art, now on to the pups -- Mojo and Babe lay on our bed every morning while I get ready for work. I came out of the shower to find Mojo in a bit of a pickle. No idea how this happened, but he was laying very still as if he thought he wasn't supposed to move the covers off his head. It was just funny to watch his eyes follow me around the room while he layer so still until I uncovered him. Goofball! 

Mojo and Babe in our first snow of the season. We didn't get much but enough for them to run around like crazy and eat their share off the deck. 

And my little friend Peyton visited this past weekend. She just loves both of our pups. Here she is hugging on Mojo. 

And on our chair and a half recliner that we call the Queeny chair. Dave bought this to accommodate Babe's habit of wanting to be a 98 lb lap dog. At least this way she can lay beside me rather than on top of me. There was enough room for little Peyton to join us and we played her new computer game laying over top of Babe. 

 And Peyton giving Babe some love. Too cute. Geezoowhiz!

This is how Babe and Mojo lay up on the sofa with Dave almost every night. This time Babe won top dog position.  #spoiledrotten 

I hope to be posting more while I'm off for the holidays and more videos and streams coming too! If you don't already follow me everywhere, here's how to find me and keep up with what I'm doing:

     YouTube

     Ustream

     FaceBook Art Page

I'll be applying the last coat of sealer to my floor cloth tonight after getting home late from a work dinner in Annapolis. Tomorrow night the tree goes up and I'll continue making some of my gelli notecards and matching envelopes for some gifts. More ornaments for our tree. Oh yeah, and I'll do some baking over the weekend. I'm sure there's more, thank God Dave's memory is still in tact! He'll remember what else I should be doing. Enjoy the crazy, busy times -- that means you have a life and loved ones to do these things for!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all! 

Patti